Book 221 - A Year of Magical Learning (Part 2/5)

Reflection Title: Inconspicuous vs. Conspicuous Consumption

Book – The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathon Haidt (Part 2 / 5)

Book Description: The Happiness Hypothesis is a book about ten Great Ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea that has been discovered by several of the world's civilizations—to question it in light of what we now know from scientific research, and to extract from it the lessons that still apply to our modern lives and illuminate the causes of human flourishing. Award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows how a deeper understanding of the world's philosophical wisdom and its enduring maxims—like "do unto others as you would have others do unto you," or "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"—can enrich and transform our lives.

Reflection:

I learned a new term that for some reason I can’t forget while reading The Happiness Hypothesis, that term is inconspicuous consumption.

What is inconspicuous consumption you ask? In order to get to inconspicuous consumption, we need to first take a look at its polar opposite form called conspicuous consumption. The sociologist Thorstein Veblen coined the term conspicuous consumption to explain the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury commodities (goods and services) specifically as a public display of economic power. Think buying expensive jewelry, cars, homes, yachts, or any other highly visible displays of wealth. When I think of the ultimate expression of conspicuous consumption, I think of how the 1980’s are depicted in TV and Film. I think of Gordon Gecko announcing that “Greed is Good” in the movie Wallstreet, I think of Robin Leach saying “Champaign Wishes and Caviar Dreams” on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and I think of shows like Dallas and Dynasty.

I think we all know what conspicuous consumption means at some level, if you don’t, just watch the Kardashians, or any other show on Bravo and you will figure it out pretty quickly. Inconspicuous consumption, on the other hand, was something I had never heard of before until the author introduced me to the term as he was weaving his narrative toward his ultimate Happiness Hypothesis.

Inconspicuous consumption is the consumption of goods or services that are valued and or consumed privately, meaning not bought for the purpose of achieving status. Examples of inconspicuous consumption of wealth I think about are things like having a fitness trainer, eating a 12 course $1,000 dinner at Alinea, taking incredible trips to once in a lifetime destinations, yoga retreats, Tony Robbins training seminars, etc. People will only spend money on this stuff if it aligns to their values of wellness, education, health, fitness, exploration, etc.

Inconspicuous consumption of time and money is a much-welcomed shift in how we consume our wealth in my opinion because in theory it was just for yourself, your loved ones, and the people that know you best. That was how it worked until the invention of social media. These days, inconspicuous consumption is very conspicuously consumed. We post about everything we do. Whether it be our latest brunch dates, dinner dates with friends, family trips to Disneyland, lavish birthday parties for our children, etc. Everything we consume these days feels like it ends up on social media in an even worse display of wealth than rolling up in your new Rolls Royce used to feel back in the day.

Where am I going with this…great question? The Happiness Hypothesis was written back in 2006, before social media became what we know of it as today. Inconspicuous consumption was truly inconspicuous at this moment in history so everything I’m saying wasn’t included or discussed in this book. Inconspicuous consumption may be spiraling out of control, however, the idea that inconspicuous consumption can bring more joy and happiness to one’s life is still valid, in my opinion.

I’m a huge believer that inconspicuously consuming your values is the path toward sustainable “Happiness”. There is nothing more personal than values. In theory, this is who you are at your core. What you consume each day and the activities that you do should tie back to your values. The time and money you spend each day should be spent helping you to do more of the things that bring you the most joy in this world.

That shouldn’t change. What should change is how we share our inconspicuous consumption with the world!

I truly don’t think that anyone, except for a small and select group of people, really cares about how I’m consuming my time in any given day, because at the end of the day, that is for me and the people I choose to share that time. That is how inconspicuous consumption of your values should work and shouldn’t be shared with the world. However, if you are doing this right, your inconspicuous consumption will lead to production of some naturally occurring meaningful byproducts that I like to refer to as your “Art”. If you feel compelled to share, this is what I would ask that you share with the world.

Keep consuming your values, but let’s shift how we share it with the world. Instead of what you do with the world, let’s start sharing what it produced for humanity!

As an example - Instead of sharing a mirror selfie at the gym each day, share your fitness journey, lessons you’ve learned, and offer to help others that care about the same things you do.

This is how sharing of inconspicuous consumption should work. Maybe we should call this meaningful consumption?

Question: How do you share your inconspicuous consumption with the world, focusing on what you do or what it produced?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathon Haidt